Store Systems

The narrative is well established: Online sales are rising dramatically and having a major impact on brick-and-mortar retailers. The facts, however, are not quite so cut and dried. Internet sales still account for a remarkably small overall percentage of U.S. retail sales. A quarter century after Amazon’s first shipment was mailed, the Web accounts for less than 9% of U.S. retail sales. With sales of $500 billion, Walmart alone is the equivalent of six Amazons.  

As the battle between Walmart Canada and Visa over interchange rates rages on, Walmart Stores is making more strategic moves with Chase.    Walmart will now process credit and debit payments on ChaseNet, the bank's closed-loop network, across its 5,000-plus Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in the U.S., and on the Sam’s Club e-commerce site. Chase already processes payments for Walmart’s e-commerce channel.  

Omnichannel success depends on the ability to scale operations to keep up with consumer demand.  

The CEO of Jordan’s Furniture wants folks to watch the upcoming presidential debate, which is scheduled for Sept. 26 from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. EST.  

Consumers have made it clear: they want to shop across a brand holistically, not a company’s individual channels.   Yet, a lack of unified customer experiences continues to haunt customer service, and fails to drive customer loyalty. These details were revealed in “In-Store Meets Online: Unifying the Retail Customer Experience,” a report from Kibo, a cloud-based unified omnichannel commerce platform provider.   

Eleven retail tech startups took the stage at Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall on Tuesday in front of nearly 1,000 people. The goal? Deliver the pitch of a lifetime.  

While most of the industry is focused on the upcoming holiday season, Party City has bigger fish to fry — hiring for Halloween.   To prepare for the retailer’s make-or-break season, the chain will hire an additional 35,000 employees nationwide over the next four weeks.  

Mirror, mirror in her hand, is Rebecca Minkoff one of the most innovative retailers in the land?   The specialty retailer is inching closer to this title as it brings its store-level smart mirror experience into its shoppers hands through a new app. Specifically, the app from Zeekit allows consumers to virtually “try on” fashions before buying online or trying them on in-store.